I am Ann Votaw,
a Hoosier living in NYC.
I moved to New York City decades ago to be a musical theater dancer. Every time I got an injury, I got a fitness certification that corresponded to my pain and … curiosity. For 10 years, I worked with older adults at a community center in Washington Heights-Inwood. I taught fitness and all sorts of health and arts-based classes, first as a recreation therapist and then as Director of Health Education and Wellness.
Working with older adults in a nonprofit setting was rewarding. But it was hard and didn’t pay a lot of money.
Today, I temp in offices all across NYC, mostly in the Financial District. Office coordination speaks to my love of organizing and greeting people. It also lets me dwell behind the scenes. But I’m itching to try some spoken word and storytelling.
In my off-hours, I write freelance articles for various publications, including Crain’s, Marie Claire, and Huffington Post. During the holidays, I am Mrs. Claus in various department stores and women-based retail venues.
New York City is the perfect place for Midwesterners like me who are too weird for their hometowns but too bright-eyed for Manhattan.
In Here is New York, E.B. White once wrote that New Yorkers can be divided into three categories: the commuters, the born and bred, and people raised somewhere else who are searching for something. He wrote: “Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion.”
I fall into the last group.
I’m in awe of the city. And I’m also aw-kward. That’s okay.